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Hugely Satisfying
As New Zealand arts funding strikes a sour note,
HOWARD SMITH listens to
the Vector Wellington Orchestra
I'm assured the Vector Wellington Orchestra did not pinch 'its' idea of presenting music created in 1910 from the recent Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's A Miracle Year concerts.
Coincidentally the OZ musicians came up with two 1910 programmes; one nearly identical to Masterton's Town Hall concert [heard 10 September 2010] though unlike the VWO they didn't fudge their Elgar and Stravinsky evening by adding in Barber's Adagio for Strings, written in 1936.
Instead, the near identical Melbourne programme was validated with Bartók's Two Portraits Op 5 (1907-1911), rather than Barber.
Melbourne's soloist was the high profile Canadian violinist James Ehnes with much in demand UK conductor Mark Wigglesworth.
In its present form the Barber favourite was first heard during a November 1938 radio broadcast by Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra...
Copyright © 28 September 2010
Howard Smith,
Masterton, New Zealand
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